


The Nice In Nice Try

by Polarnacht



Series: Black To Blue [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Anal Sex, Bottom Jace Wayland, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Oral Sex, Pre-Canon, Rough Sex, Smut, Switch Jace Wayland, Switch Magnus Bane, Top Magnus Bane, one-night stand to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25087099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polarnacht/pseuds/Polarnacht
Summary: Magnus and Jace are both looking for something to distract themselves from their troubled pasts when they find each other in the heat of a night in Pandemonium. What is meant to be a one-night stand slowly transforms into something more – but are both ready to acknowledge that they have found what they were truly looking for or do they realize it just that moment too late?
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Jace Wayland
Series: Black To Blue [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862467
Comments: 31
Kudos: 69
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020, Hunter's Moon Fic Recs





	1. Chapter 1

Jace was on a hunt. He had felt itchy for a while now and figured he needed something - something the Institute didn't provide. He had lied to Alec about where he was going. He hated lying to his Parabatai, but he needed to be alone tonight and the risk of Alec deciding to tag along for Jace's sake was just too high.

Sometimes the pressure of having to be the best in everything just got too much, the nightmares too livid, the memories too painful to be ignored any longer. When the itching didn’t go away but increased it was time for Jace to start hunting.  
  
Jace stood at the bar of Pandemonium, a nightclub he had visited before. He liked the audience, a mixture of Mundanes and Downworlders and the very rare Shadowhunter. His foot bounced in the steady rhythm of the beat, while his eyes roamed the room. He was not sure what he was looking for, he just knew he was looking for something. Or rather someone. But so far, none of the persons around him gave him any vibes. With a slight sigh he downed his drink.

***

  
Magnus Bane was bored. He hated to admit it, but he truly was. He was the High Warlock of Brooklyn, he had clients, he had friends, he had a life - yet there was an emptiness he couldn't deny any longer. An emptiness that threatened to consume him ever since he had broken up with Camille.  
Camille. Magnus huffed. The most beautiful and intriguing Vampire - who was he kidding, woman - he had ever met. And the most deadly. She had broken his heart not only once, but twice. Yet, she also had saved him. Magnus honestly didn't know how the dark night on the bridge in London had ended if she hadn't shown up. Probably with him falling and drowning, though sometimes he felt like he had never stopped falling, just continued to do so in a different way. He sighed again. He needed a distraction. He needed to feel alive again. He needed something. Someone.  
  
With a bored gestured he circled his drink while he watched the crowd dance. There were plenty of beautiful people, pretty girls and handsome guys. Yet, he was missing the spark.

He was about to conjure a portal to call it a night, when a blond man entered the dancefloor. Nephilim as the dark runes against bronzed skin suggested. But it were not the runes that caught Magnus' eyes. It was the way the blond moved. He circled his hips in a very lascivious and suggestive way, his tight pants leaving little to the imagination. His eyes were half closed, lost in the music. It seemed as he belonged there, just in this moment to this point of time. Magnus couldn't help but watch mesmerized when small drops of sweat gathered on his upper lip and the boy’s pink tongue darted out to lick them away.

When he raised his arms to sway to the music, his tight shirt slid upward and exposed nicely pronounced abs and further runes. He had defined thighs and a perky ass with just the perfect shape. Magnus swallowed and licked over his dry lips, a predatory smirk appearing on his face.

The music changed and the beat slowed down, startling the Nephilim and pulling him out of his trance. He looked up and their eyes locked. For a second they stared at each other before a cocky grin flashed over the Shadowhunter’s face. He winked at Magnus before he adjusted his movements to the new beat without breaking eye contact.

Magnus had always had a thing for blue eyes – normally together with dark hair, but he was prepared to make an exception for this one. When the Shadowhunter winked at him again, all he wanted to do was fuck the smug look off this face. Finally he had found the spark.

Without having to think twice, Magnus made his way towards the Shadowhunter, the portal and the quiet night forgotten. To his surprise, their bodies adjusted within seconds to each other and they started to dance together, their hips circling in perfect unison. Magnus liked that the blond was shorter than him and had to tilt his head slightly to look at him. At close range, he realized that one of his eyes had golden sparkles in the blue, a fact he found absolutely intriguing.

The next song was even slower. The Shadowhunter grinned at him before he hooked his index fingers in Magnus’ belt loops to draw him closer. Magnus could smell him now, a faint smell of citron mixed with a muskier scent. He liked it. He let his hands roam over the blond’s back, pressing their hips together, that swayed in the punishing slow rhythm of the music. When his hands reached the small of the Nephilim’s back, he hesitated for a second but then went further down, giving the blond’s ass a firm squeeze. He gasped in surprise but didn’t seem to mind, as the cocky grin never faded and he just pushed back slightly.

“Let’s get out of here.” Magnus leaned in and brushed with his lips slightly over the Shadowhunter’s earlobe. His voice had been low but the goosebumps that spread over the blond’s body showed him that he had understood.

The Shadowhunter looked up and something in his mismatched eyes made Magnus want to kiss him harshly leaving him breathless and undone. He grabbed his chin to tilt his head further before he did just that. Their lips met and Magnus could taste the alcohol from the blond’s last drink together with the slight salty flavor of sweat. The kiss was bruising, passionate, anything but gentle. Magnus entangled his hand in his hair and scrapped lightly over his scalp, making the blond moan in responds. When he bit lightly down on Magnus’s bottom lip, Magnus pulled a bit more forcefully at his hair, trying to establish who was in charge here. But the Shadowhunter just laughed breathlessly and smiled wickedly.

“Hell yeah.”

Magnus hold him in place just a little longer before he turned around to drag him out of the club to his private room to make a portal.

The portal appeared directly in Magnus bedroom. While passing through it, the two men had never stopped kissing, both nearly losing balance in the process. With a grin Magnus pushed Jace onto his huge bed. He really couldn’t deny how much it turned him on when he looked up at him through his thick, dark eyelashes.

“I’m Jace by the way.”

“And I don’t care.”

Jace looked a little startled but then he just laughed his cocky laugh that would be soon replaced by lustful moans and grunts. 

“You are really full of yourself.”

Magnus just cocked his eyebrow before he slid on top of Jace, straddling his legs and grinding down lazily on him, while he started to suck at Jace’s pulse point.

“It’s just like that. Your name doesn’t matter because when I have started to fuck you, you’ll forget who you are, you just will moan my name and beg me to never be done with you.”

Magnus bit down and scratched Jace’s sensitive skin lightly, which made him buckle up, before Magnus kissed him again in earnest. The kiss was brutal and made both men shiver in anticipation. When Jace drew away he already panted lightly.

“Then maybe you should give me a name to moan. Besides, who says you are doing the fucking?”

With a practiced move Jace flipped them over, encaging Magnus beneath him.

“I say that. And I have magic.”

Before Jace could contemplate what happened, Magnus had reversed their positions again, and Jace found his hands magically bound above his head. With a snap his shirt was gone and he shivered slightly under Magnus’ hot gaze.

“You are so damn beautiful, little angel, and it’s Magnus.” Magnus murmured before he kissed his way down Jace’s jawline, before circling his nipples with his tongue. At Jace’s wanton moan he sucked lightly at the tiny nub, making Jace shiver even more. The Shadowhunter tried to free his hands, but they were hold firmly in place. Magnus let his hand roam further down. He smirked when he found Jace’s croach already bulged and he started to palm him through the rough fabric.

“Magnus.”

Something in his voice made Magnus look up and slide up again, until they were face to face. Jace still looked cocky, but Magnus could sense an insecurity under his demeanor that hadn’t been there before.

This time Magnus kissed him softly, gently, his tongue slipping playfully in and out Jace’s mouth.

“Are you alright?”

Jace nodded. “It’s just… I’ve never bottomed before.”

“Never?” Magnus tensed slightly, his voice low and content.

Jace rolled his eyes and huffed, but amusement crept into his voice. “Never. What is it with you men and the virginity kink?”

There was his cockiness back in full display, yet Magnus didn’t let himself be fooled, the vulnerability just lay beneath it. While nipping gently at the blond’s bottom lip, he carried on, not able to contain a light chuckle.

“We can switch of course. But I can make you feel so good like that. You can just lay there and let me take care of you. No need to decide what do to next, no pressure, no responsibility. Just me fucking you. You will feel so good.”

He bit lightly down on Jace’s lip, drawing another moan out of him while his hand found Jace’s hard cock and Jace thrusted instinctively up to get more friction. Magnus rubbed small circles over Jace’s bulge, squeezing gently, but not enough to give the Shadowhunter real satisfaction. He grinned wickedly.

“Okay.” Jace sounded breathless, but sure.

“You can always tell me to stop and we can switch or try something else.”

Jace nodded again before he gasped in surprise, when his pants vanished with another snap just like his shirt had.

Magnus was still fully dressed and somehow that turned them both on even more. Magnus kissed his way downwards, teasing Jace’s hard nipples again before he went lower, appreciating Jace’s hard abs. He licked over the dark runes, sucking and biting at them, leaving his own marks over the angelic ones. He pushed Jace’s knees further apart to have better access. When he nibbled lightly on the sensitive skin between Jace’s thighs, the blond’s hip jerked upward, but Magnus pressed it down. Magnus felt the strength in Jace’s thighs, the muscles working under the skin while he increased the pressure of his lips and tongue, leaving Jace a moaning mess.

“Please.”

Magnus grinned wickedly. He was far from done. One hand hold Jace’s hips down while his tongue moved a little up, licking over the boxer’s thin fabric. He mouthed over the outline of Jace’s cock, his teeth rubbing lightly over the fabric. He smiled when he tasted a foretaste through the slightly wet boxers, Jace’s dick was already leaking pre-come. Painfully slowly he pushed the boxers down and Jace’s cock sprang free. Magnus’s thumb pushed over the sensitive slit several times to gather all pre-come to use it as lube before he started to pump Jace in earnest. Jace groaned and tried to thrust up, but a light slap to his thighs made him stop.

“Don’t move and be good for me, then I will be so good to you.”

Jace huffed but tried to keep still. He didn’t want this to end, not so soon. Magnus set a fast rhythm, twirling his wrist and scrubbing with his fingernails just in the right way over Jace’s cock to make the blond grunt and shiver. When Magnus felt the pressure building he quickly pressed down on the base of Jace’s cock, to hinder the orgasm to strike just yet. Jace groaned in frustration but Magnus just smirked when he let go to slide upwards again, his knees on both sides on Jace’s shoulders. He entangled one hand in Jace’s hair while the other unbuttoned his pants and freed his cock, hovering over the Shadowhunter.

He bent down to kiss Jace sloppily. He stroked himself lazily before he pulled Jace up at his hair, supporting his head at the same time. Jace licked his lips and locked eyes with Magnus. This time it was Magnus who moaned when he saw how readily the Shadowhunter opened his mouth. He pushed forward and let his hard cock slide in, groaning when he felt Jace’s tongue slide over his head in small circles before he swallowed him down. With one hand he held Jace’s head in place while he fucked wantonly in Jace’s hot mouth, shivering each time the blond moaned around his cock, the vibrations nearly too much. When his cock hit the back of Jace’s throat he paused briefly to enjoy the hotness and tightness before he drew back to let Jace breath properly. He moaned when Jace pushed forward to take him in deep again. When Magnus felt his own orgasm starting to build, he pulled Jace off his cock and kissed him instead, before he licked away the tears that had started to fall during the rough face fucking. Jace’s eyes were glazed over and he kissed hungrily back.

“So really never?” Magnus teased while kissing Jace’s throat, making the blond curse under his breath.

“Fuck you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m about to. But you say stop if you need me to.” They locked eyes briefly and Jace nodded, before Magnus kissed him again with more force now, the kiss being all teeth and biting.

Magnus lubed his finger thoroughly before he circled Jace’s entrance slowly, not yet pushing in but giving the blond the possibility to get used to the feeling of being touched there. He smiled when Jace relaxed and pushed slightly back, clearly ready for more. He kissed Jace’s thigh, satisfied to see already red marks appearing were he had sucked earlier, before he slowly pushed in. Jace tensed and Magnus stopped, but after a short moment Jace relaxed again and Magnus pushed in a little deeper until his second knuckle disappeared. Jace felt amazing, tight and hot and perfect. A small yelp escaped Jace when Magnus started to push in and out, fucking him gently with one finger. But the pain was soon replaced by wanton moans and Magnus added a second finger, stretching Jace’s tight hole a little further. He twirled his fingers and started to scissor him out to make room for a third finger. When the three fingers moved in and out easily, Magnus searched for his prostate. Jace couldn’t help but scream in surprise when Magnus hit the spot, making the warlock look smug.

“I told you that you will feel so good,” he whispered while pressing down on the sensitive bundle of nerves again.

“Please.” Jace sounded needy, but he didn’t care. He wanted more now.

“Open up a bit more.” Magnus nudged gently at Jace’s legs and the Shadowhunter complied, letting his legs fall open even more. Magnus lubed up his cock. Jace drew in a shaky breath when he felt the blunt head of Magnus’ thick cock at his hole but he tried his best to relax to let Magnus in.

With small thrusts Magnus made room for himself in Jace’s body. When he bottomed out he paused a moment to let Jace adjust before he started to pull out and push in again in a slow, antagonizing rhythm. Jace’s eyes rolled back in his head and all he could do was moan while Magnus fucked him lazily. When Jace’s wrapped his legs around Magnus, his strong thighs trying to pull Magnus in even deeper it was clear that the time for gentle was over. Magnus pulled out nearly completely before he slammed in again. He set a punishing pace and angled his thrusts that he hit Jace’s prostate nearly with every move. Jace’s eyes had slid shut, his mouth was slightly open, moans were spilling out of his mouth while Magnus fucked him roughly, each forceful thrust deeper than the one before.

It took Magnus only two strokes to make Jace come before he lost control himself. With a low groan he came, biting down harshly on Jace’s nape. The blond groaned in surprise but was too blissed out to complain. With a snap Magnus removed the spell and Jace’s hands found their way in Magnus hair, pulling his head up to kiss him. Magnus was still buried deep in Jace while they kissed, the heat gone, replaced by a surprising tenderness. When Magnus finally pulled out, Jace hissed softly.

“Are you okay?”

Jace nodded, smiling. “Yeah, all good. A little sore maybe.”

Magnus chuckled. “I bet you are.”

With a snap a warm wash cloth appeared and Magnus started to clean first Jace gently and then himself. While cleaning Jace Magnus already felt Jace’s breathing getting deeper and his body heavier.

When Magnus was done Jace looked up, his eyes betraying him for a moment.

“Stay or go?”

Magnus hesitated for a moment. “You can stay for the night.”

With a content groan Jace lay back in the cool silky sheets, already drifting off to sleep a few moments later.

Magnus woke up early and watched the blond sleep. He looked peaceful and younger than he was. He was considered an adult by his own race for a very long time, yet, laying naked next to him, a small frown on his face, his lips pursed into a faint smile, he reminded him more of a boy than a man. Though he was unmistakably a man, a warrior at that. Small white scars covered his body, the remains from runes that had faded with time.

Jace was not the first Shadowhunter the Warlock had seen naked, he was familiar with the net of scars that covered them in the turn of time. The white scars were not the thing that startled Magnus. It were the angrier looking, red ones. Mundane looking scars. Scars that shouldn’t be there, as an Iratze should have taken care of these wounds and close them without leaving marks.

With a gentle finger he traced down one of them, wondering what had happened to the blond. Jace stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up. Magnus let his hand trail further, mapping out the runes and scars that told a life of violence and fight. He shook his head, he knew he should wake the blond up and throw him out of the loft. One-night stands weren’t meant to stay. One-night stands weren’t meant to cause deeper thoughts. Especially not Nephilim. Shadowhunters were never worth the trouble they brought with them.

Yet, when Jace’s eyes started to flutter and Magnus saw the mischievous gleam in them, he couldn’t deny that an anticipation build in his stomach. Jace caught Magnus by his wrist and removed his hand from his body playfully but intently. His eyes flashed briefly golden at Magnus in a way he had never seen it before. The cocky grin that Magnus had wiped of his face by fucking him into the mattress last night had reappeared. The kiss that followed was possessive and Magnus didn’t mind when Jace started to suck on his pulse point while grinding down on him, clearly wanting more than breakfast this morning.

***

One-night stands were not meant to stay, yet Magnus found himself making coffee for Jace while he took a quick shower. They slipped easily into a cordial conversation, their banter from the bedroom continuing in the kitchen with an ease that astonished Magnus. Somehow, they seemed to click.

Yet, Magnus was determined to keep the door shut the moment Jace closed it behind him to report back to the Institute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning: mention of past child abuse

Magnus sighed lightly but even he could not deny the content feeling spreading in his stomach while he watched Jace lying naked next to him, his face buried in the pillow. His back made a perfect curve and his ass was just gorgeous in a way Magnus felt tempted to slap it, bite it or fuck it. Preferably all three of them.

Jace looked up, feeling Magnus' gaze on him. "Like what you see?" He winked at him and clenched his ass, knowing very well what that would do to Magnus.

This was exactly the problem. Magnus really liked what he saw, in fact he liked it a little too much. He really hadn't planned to start a casual affair, with a Shadowhunter of all people.

But Magnus’ resolve to keep the door closed had only held exactly until the next weekend, when Jace had returned to Pandemonium, alone again, wearing an even tighter jeans and his smile as cocky as it could get. Magnus just hadn't been able to help himself but push him against the next wall to kiss him senseless and then conjure a portal to push him into his bed.

Since then, they had hooked up more often, drawn to each other against better judgment, the sexual tension between them nearly tangible with bare hands.

Magnus loved to take Jace apart piece by piece and put him back together again. He loved the way Jace moaned for him, the way he let himself come undone. He loved the way Jace felt around him when he was buried deep inside of him.

Yet he couldn’t deny that from time to time, he enjoyed when Jace took control, his angelic powers strong enough to make Magnus feel safe and cared for, safe enough to let go and get truly lost in the heat of the night. But this was all it was, it were moments of shared passion when the night was the darkest, maybe followed by a quick breakfast in the morning. Casual hook-ups that meant nothing much except both enjoying their physical attraction. At least that was what Magnus told himself when he lay awake at night, missing the soft breathing next to his own.

“Could be worse,” Magnus teased him, his hand trailing down Jace’s back, mapping his runes and scars. He knew the meaning of most of the runes, strength, speed, agility and of course the Parabatai rune on Jace’s hip.

It gave Magnus a strange satisfaction to scratch the runes with his sharp fingernails, covering them up in his own marks. Jace didn’t seem to mind, in fact he enjoyed the edge between pain and pleasure. And Magnus knew how to dance on this edge without falling to the ground. He had been hurt too in his life, he knew that Jace enjoyed just the hint of it, without having to be told.

Jace rolled to the side, popping himself up on one elbow. Magnus continued to leave small white traces on the reddish runes, enjoying the little moans Jace made while he retraced each one. When he reached the Parabatai rune, Jace’s hand shot up and closed around Magnus’.

“Not this one.”

Magnus smiled, he had anticipated something like that.

“Tell me about your Parabatai.”

Jace cocked an eyebrow but when he saw the genuine interest in Magnus’ eyes, a smile Magnus had not seen before appeared on Jace’s face. And Jace told Magnus about Alec, the two-year older boy he had met when his father had died and complete strangers had taken him in to give him a new home, not knowing that he never even had an old one. Jace told him that the moment he had met Alec, he had felt a connection to him. It had taken time for him to lower his guards his father had so thoroughly taught him to keep up, to let Alec in. But from the day Alec had slipped into his room, awakened by Jace’s screams in the dead of night and just had been there for him, Alec had been his home. Becoming Parabatai had just been the next logical step.

“He will always be a part of me.” There was an undertone ringing through it Magnus caught and filed away.

“I know,” he whispered against Jace’s lips.

“He saved me.”

Jace sounded a bit perplex to add this information.

“Saved you from what?”

Jace swallowed and looked away. Magnus’ hands found his scars, the real ones, the mundane ones and started to tenderly caress them.

“My father. He beat me. He scarred me. And I thought this was okay until Alec taught me otherwise. Until he taught me how to love. I wasn’t even sure what love is.” Jace was quiet after that, his breathing agitated and he blinked rapidly a few times.

Magnus’ eyes shone briefly yellow before he got himself back under control. He had suspected something like that, Jace had made some remarks about his father earlier, about the methods Valentine had thought fit to teach a child with. He knew that the scaring not only referred to his visible scars but also the ones inside. The same he carried inside from his own father, hidden to others, but always there. He shuffled closer and put his arms around Jace.

“Tell me about fathers,” he murmured into Jace’s hair, but without expecting a response.Most people thought that given his age, he was long over talking about his parents.

“Please.” Magnus was a little startled at Jace's request, but to his own surprise he started to speak. That after his mother had killed herself and he had burnt his stepfather to ashes, he had turned to Asmodeus, the King of Hell and his father, the only person who had had the same eyes than him. The only person who understood him, or so he had thought. He told Jace about the things he had done in the name of his father, to please him, to get his approval. How his father had manipulated him to be something he had never wanted to be. A monster. A real demon.

When he was finished he looked up, certain to find disgust in Jace’s eyes. What he did not expect to find were tears. Jace had not cried when he had told his own story of abuse and neglect, he had furiously regained control when his eyes had started to prickle. But he cried now. He cried for Magnus and his pain, like only someone could who knew what Magnus was talking about. Who knew how much it hurt to want the approval from the one person you shouldn’t want approval from. Who knew that the wrong love really could destroy.

Magnus brushed Jace’s tears away before he kissed him, deep and slow. He tasted the salt when Jace opened his lips to let him in. It was really hard to remind himself that Jace was not meant to stay, that this was just a distraction from his otherwise boring life. But like it had always been between them, there came a point where Jace had to go and Magnus let him.

***

Jace stumbled in Magnus' apartment, his gear torn apart, one eye swollen and his lip bruised. Magnus gasped in surprise when he saw him.

It was not the first time that he saw Jace like that, covered with signs from the last battle. But it was the first time he saw him that undone. He took his chin in a firm grip and turnt his head to get a better look. Jace flinched slightly but didn't draw away.

"What happened?"

They both knew that Magnus was not talking about the battle against the demon. After a short moment of hesitation, Jace's eyes found Magnus', who still held him by his chin, his thumb brushing over the bruise.

"I had a fight with Alec."

Magnus remained silent, waiting for Jace to continue.

"I don't think I can live being on different sides."

Magnus pulled him closer, letting his magic heal the cut and the swollen eye.

"You won't have to. You're Parabatai. It's normal. You fight, you forgive. "

"I have really been a shitty Parabatai lately." The confession hurt but it was the truth.

"Then apologize. Make it up to him."

"And what if he doesn't want to listen?"

"Of course he will."

"You don't even know him."

"Yes I do. He is your Parabatai. He is part of you."

Jace rested his head shortly on Magnus' chest before he pulled away, smiling when he saw the already open portal. He pressed a kiss to his lips, thanking him for so much more than the portal.

***

The next time they met was an official appointment. Years ago, Magnus had wiped a little girl’s memories of the Shadow World on behalf of her mother. He had known back then that it was a mistake, but the mother had been persistent and in the end, Magnus had given in. At least he had known that it was done correctly and the girl not harmed in the process. But now this came back to hunt him.

Three Shadowhunters and the girl stood in front of him, demanding his help with a memory demon to restore her memories. It was strange to see Jace in an official mission. The Shadowhunters had knocked, something Jace hadn’t done in a while. Magnus’ wards let him in without having to do so. But now Magnus guards were up and when Jace entered, their eyes locked briefly in a silent agreement to not tell anyone they knew each other. Though Magnus suspected the tall, dark-haired Shadowhunter knew. The way the two Shadowhunters moved in synch, the small touches, the silent communication made it perfectly clear to Magnus that they were Parabatai.

Magnus was not a jealous person and he was not really jealous now, but he felt a longing inside him when he watched the two Shadowhunters interact. He had really close friends, he had Catarina and Ragnor who knew him inside out and whom he trusted with his life. But as it was with Warlocks who had the eternity to live, they often didn’t see each other for decades, all too busy living their own lives. The blind trust Jace and Alec shared, they way they seemed not to be able to stand apart in the same room made something stir inside of Magnus. Something he really didn’t want or needed.

“Get your team ready, pretty boy,”

Magnus said in a light voice, a teasing smile on his lips that deepened when he saw Jace react to that.

“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to you.”

Magnus looked pointedly at Alec who swallowed nervously, a frown on his face, his eyes darting between Jace and Magnus. He knew. Magnus didn’t know if he liked the fact that Jace had told the person he trusted the most about them or if it annoyed him. Probably both.

He also didn’t really know why he had said it. He just had wanted to tease Jace a little not really hurt him, but he had seen the flash of hurt and betrayal that had washed over his face before his armor of cockiness had snapped back into place.

Shortly after that the Shadowhunters and the Mundane girl left and the silence rang loud in his ears. He shook himself and went to his bar, mixing himself a drink. It was five somewhere in the world and he really was in need of that drink.

He flinched when the door opened and slammed against the wall, his wards giving Jace free entry to his apartment. He turned around and saw the Shadowhunter approach. With huge steps Jace was in front of him, anger radiating from him, but also hurt. He looked young again, despite his battle gear and the seraph blade that dangled on his belt, hidden to Mundane eyes but not to Magnus’.

“What the fuck was this about?” Jace spat at him, they stood only inches apart now. “You flirted with my Parabatai. With him of all people.”

Magnus just shrugged. He watched Jace closely, the heat in his movements, the question in his eyes. He was just an affair and maybe it was time to remind him of that.

“Oh come on, Jace. It was just a little flirt. Not that I owe you an explanation anyway. Not that we are anything that needs a justification.”

Jace stared at him for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face. “So, that’s it? You humiliate me in front of him to make me go? I will.”

Jace stood still so close to Magnus that he could smell him, the familiar mixture of citron and spice. His voice had been low when he had spoken, his eyes locked on Magnus'. Magnus saw the pain and he saw the pleading in them for him to make him stay. To not let him go. But Magnus kept silent.

Affaires shouldn’t cut so deep and yet Magnus felt Jace under his skin. He had made room for him in his heart and life and when Jace turned around to go, the pain in his mismatched eyes replaced by the old glare of cockiness mixed with defiance, Magnus felt strangely empty. He bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from crying out the words. Suddenly he felt himself fall again and he realized astonished, that he had stopped falling a while ago.

“Stay.” It was barely a whisper and nearly spoken against his will.

Jace turned around on his heels and jumped forward to push Magnus against the wall. Defiance was replaced by rage. His breath was ragged and his eyes dazed with fury, yet Magnus could see the vulnerability laying beneath it.

“Don’t play with me.”

Magnus’ head collided hard with the wall, but he kept looking steadily at Jace. He had made his choice a long time ago, though it had taken him until now to realize it. He raised his hand to caress Jace’s cheek and he smiled when he felt the blond relax a little. They had been both hurt in the past, differently but both in a way that they didn’t trust easily. Yet here they were, staring at each other without their usual guards up and armor on.

Affaires were not meant to cut, but boyfriends were.

“Stay.” Magnus smiled while saying it and his voice was soft but firm. Magnus felt Jace’s rough lips against his and his last walls were crumbling around him.

“I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are loved 💙


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